m of care – apr 14
Rojava Film Commune Charity Screening: the Lonely Trees (2017) – screening apr 14 2023 – above video is from discussion around that .. let by debbie
Museum of Care was proud to host a screening of The Lonely Trees (2017). The event was held to share with the broad network of MoC the amazing work of the Rojava Film Commune and to show them support due to the recent earthquake that occurred on the 6th of February 2023. All the income was given to Heyva Sor de Kurdîstane, which you can also freely support. Debbie Bookchin opened the event.
rojava’s third way et al
Komîna Fîlm a Rojava (The Rojava Film Commune) is a collective of filmmakers based in the autonomous region in northern Syria, where it carries on many activities to develop and build infrastructures for filmmaking, screening and education, cultivating new audiences and envisioning filmmaking as a medium for empowerment as well as a tool for liberation.
The region of Rojava has suffered, even before the beginning of the war in Syria, from a lack of investment in arts, culture, and education, that lead many youngsters to move to other regions in order to continue their education. Komîna Fîlm a Rojava was founded as a reaction to the Syrian violent politics of forced assimilation of Indigenous communities, amplified during the war, since the Rojava region suffered from attacks and occupation.
By 2011, all the cinemas that had opened in the region since the 1940s were closed, therefore the Commune’s intention was to bring back the community to cinema and filmmaking, through a wide range of activities, such as the Rojava Film Academy, a one-year educational program providing theoretical and practical classes, the production of films and documentaries, and infrastructure-building, with the aim to give a voice to women and ethnic and religious communities. The academy is self-organized with students and commune members organizing its program taught by local and international film professionals.
They have taken part in Documenta fifteen, curating a screening program with materials from the Commune’s archive and recent films, as well as examples from Kurdish film history, including discussion panels with filmmakers and members of the Commune.
The event is curated by Nika Dubrovsky and Paola Pietronave. Heartfelt thanks to Sêvînaz Evdikê, from Komîna Film a Rojava.
notes/quotes from 50 min video:
6 min – debbie: they estimate 2.25 million people displaced by this earthquake.. and this ongoing campaign by the turkish to the curdish.. denied ability to speak own language.. sing their music.. dress in their clothing..
12 min – debbie: on decision making and consensus.. and direct democracy.. empowerment of women there
to me.. any form of democratic admin as cancerous distraction
14 min – debbie: i first heard of rojava in 2011.. but in 2014.. at kobani.. heroic fight.. curdish forces.. defending faught.. took back the city w help of american air support
17 min – nika: seems only place people from all diff cultural backgrounds living in peace.. so it’s about maintaining culture.. but at same time.. super internationalist
18 min – debbie: thing they understand so beautifully.. the strength of rojava comes precisely from the multi ethnicity.. nationalism about pitting one culture against another.. t the more diverse.. the more stable..
discrimination as equity.. nationality: human.. marsh label law et al..
34 min – debbie: one of triumphs of rojava – education, education, education.. committees that went around door to door to try to engage them and bring them into academies.. and talk about histories.. there’s been serious buy in because project works.. have more autonomy/independence..
36 min – debbie: they’re not a utopia.. still have struggles.. but what they’ve done in the 10 – yrs they’ve been under attack.. also.. rojava is not just one strip.. not even continuous.. call it 7 regions.. ie: afrin – it’s also very beautiful area.. very stable during war.. many refugees that came into afrin
39 min – nika: on your father.. and how he connected to rojava
debbie: a long time philosopher, social theorist, activist.. written many books.. one of first to intro ecology into social theory.. early 50-60s.. thesis: all environ problems occur because they are social problems..
41 min – debbie: i think what he brought uniquely to world of social theory.. is that we won’t change world by simply eliminating econ ineq.. really have to change the world by addressing all sorts of forms of domination and hierarchy.. wrote about it in 60s.. post scarcity anarchism, ecology of freedom..
murray bookchin.. ecology of freedom.. bookchin utopian law.. bookchin art-ist law.. post scarcity anarchism.. toward an eco society.. social eco and communalism.. murray on spontaneity.. next revolution.. remaking society.. free cities..
42 min – debbie: one of the things he believed was that one way to make more free/egal society would be by what he called libertarian municipalism.. the idea that we go on the local level and try to org w/in communities and create local assemblies.. so he wrote a lot about urban planning/design and cities.. this idea of face to face grass roots democracy.. and his ideas about hierarchy intrigued echevon (?) he took them and mixed in women empowerment et al.. communalism concept .. getting people activated on local level
imagine if we listened to the itch-in-8b-souls 1st thing everyday & used that data to connect us
in the city.. as the day.. city sketchup ness et al
(tech as it could be.. ai as augmenting interconnectedness)
45 min – debbie: he calls communalist concept .. getting people activated on local level.. trying to make change that way.. voting actually strengthens the state.. need to build up the localities.. that can federate together..t nation state is really the root of oppression/violence/domination/patriarchy
infinitesimal structures approaching the limit of structureless\ness and/or vice versa .. aka: ginorm/small ness
47 min – paola: most touching part for me is last 10 min
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be you. 